Our little chunk!

Mason is almost 5 weeks old! I can't believe it. It seems like every time we take our eyes off of him and look back, he's changed! We took him to his 1 month pediatrician appointment and he weighs 9 lbs 14 ounces! Holy cow he's almost 10 pounds, which means he has gained 1 pound a week. He is the sweetest little boy and is so patient with Kyle and I as we are learning how to take care of him and meet his needs. There are good days and bad days, but by far more good then bad. He loves being held, which is awesome because I love cuddling with him but there are times that I want to put him down so I can get stuff done in the house and I can't. I have learned to cook dinner quicker and in different ways. I never have really enjoyed making dinners out of a crock-pot because I hardly put any work into it (I know, I know that sounds amazing right? Hardly put any work into making a dinner and have it taste amazing? But I love cooking! I love having flour on my clothes and I love having a sink full of used pots and pans.) But since having Mason I can't set aside 2 hours to prepare and cook dinner like I used to, so I have settled with doing more in the crock-pot. One of my favorites that I've made so far is called Cilantro Lime Chicken (see recipe here) It's really easy, as all crock-pot meals are, and it tastes really good! I don't normally like cilantro, due to a bad experience a few years ago...cough cough Nicole Norman remember?.... but after cooking in the crock-pot for 7 hours the strong cilantro taste is pretty much gone.

I'm really excited that the weather is slowly getting warmer. I haven't had the chance to take Mason outside and experience sitting in the sun and breathing fresh air yet cause it's been too cold, but I think one of these days I'm going to wrap him up and go sit on the grass. For how much he enjoys looking out the window at the light I think that he will really like sitting out in the sun, not to mention a great way to get some Vitamin D. I absolutely love being a mom to Mason. He has made me look at life in a completely different way. If I didn't have other responsibilities to do throughout the day I would be completely fine sitting and staring at him for hours! It amazes me how much he smiles. He is the happiest little boy ever! Here is a picture of him... just because :)

Look at those cheeks! (yes they are constantly kissed and squeezed all day!)

3 Weeks Old!

Wow I have no idea where the time is going. I can't believe that my little guy is three weeks old! Every time either Kyle's parents or my parents stop by to see him they tell us how much he has changed... it's hard for me to see that he's changing because he looks the same to me. I can tell he's gaining weight because his face is becoming fuller, but I can't look at him and see the drastic change that he makes every day, like every one else can, because I'm with him 24/7. I absolutely love his little baby smell! There is nothing like it. I could smell him all day and night... well I practically do because either I'm changing, feeding, or burping him. One thing that he loves to do is stare at Daddy. When Kyle comes home from work and Mason hears his voice, he immediately will find where Kyle is and stare.

He loves taking baths. The first night that we were able to put his whole body in the water, we put him in one of those infant tubs that you set on the counter... he screamed and screamed. He didn't like it at all and I think it was because his belly and arms weren't submerged in the water. So we finally thought of putting him in the sink so that his whole body can be under the water and he LOVES it. He will just sit and stare at us very calmly. We also put the towel in the dryer so that when he comes out of the water he is wrapped in a warm towel. So bath time in the Tanner home is really fun. The first time was stressful because of the crying, but once we figured out how he wants to be bathed it's actually enjoyable to bath him.

Kyle is really good at burping him. I will pat his back, I swear, for 10 minutes and not get anything out of him and then I'll hand him over to Kyle and almost immediately he'll burp. It is so neat to be able to watch this little connection grow between Kyle and Mason. I can tell that Mason really enjoys being held by his dad! Kyle comforts Mason in ways that I can't comfort him. 

Great-Grandma Shirley holding Mason. When we were about to give Mason to her, she said, "Ohhh I'm so nervous! I don't know if I want to hold him, he's so little." But once we put the Boppy around her and just laid Mason on the Boppy she was able to enjoy her great-grandson.

Brittin loves holding him! She is the best big sister ever. If she could she would do everything for him (feed, change him, dress him, burp him, hold him, comfort him....etc) One time she said to Kyle, "It's okay Dad, I'll burp him." She helps out a lot.

This is how he has to sleep. He loves having his arms up by his face. We try to swaddle them inside the blanket, but eventually he will wiggle them out and put them by his face.

His first bottle!! Kyle was so excited to feed him, and it was nice on my end because I was able to take a break for a little bit from nursing him. He took the bottle really well, we were kind of nervous that he wasn't going to be able to figure it out but he did great.

I love this picture! He's either super milk drunk or very very tired. I'm thinking it's a combination of both!

Bye-Bye Belly Button

You never realize how much you can do on such a small amount of sleep.... Actually I can't say that because I have been spoiled with Mason and how well he sleeps at night! Pretty much from day one he didn't really have his days and nights mixed up. During the day, I do try to keep him up as much as possible, but it's been such a blessing having him sleep so well! He usually gets up around 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. to eat and then he goes right back to sleep. This past week his little digestive system is starting to react to a lot of things that I am eating... I think... I don't know if he just has a fussy time every single day or if he is reacting to something I'm eating. But most nights around 6-10 p.m. he is really fussy. He shows signs of gassy pains, so I think it's something I'm eating but I cannot figure out what it is for the life of me! Kyle is so good with Mason! He rocks him and burps him until he settles down. I know for a fact that I could not do this without Kyle. One thing that relaxes Mason almost 100% of the time is having church music on! It is the funniest thing, if he's fussy or won't settle down, we play some church music and immediately he will calm down and listen to the music. His favorite part of conference was when the Tabernacle Choir would sing. He would be moving and kind of fussy until they would sing and then he would lay still and just listen.

One thing that he doesn't like, which is a bummer, is his binky. We have tried different kinds of binkies and he just spits all of them out. Darn! So when he's crying, we can't just stick a binky in to quiet him. We bounce him, rock him, and cuddle him and eventually he will stop crying. He really is a good baby. 90% of the day he is so so good! He rarely cries, so when he does cry I know for a fact that something is wrong... either he's hungry, needs his diaper changed or just wants to be held. But for the most part he just lays quiet and is the cutest baby ever... and I think he knows it too! He smiles all the time!

 His belly button FINALLY fell off after about 14 days! Yay! We had just given him sponge baths before it fell off and he loved it, so we thought for sure that he would absolutely love being submerged in the water. So once his belly button came off we gave him his first bath... we were wrong about him loving his baths. He did all he could to not get in that water! His legs were straight as a board, his back was arched and he screamed. Once he got in the water he couldn't decide if he liked it or not. He would whimper and then two seconds later he looked like he really liked it and then two seconds later he would scream. Hopefully he will like the baths the more we do it. I think it was something new and he wasn't sure about the whole thing.

Mason is the sweetest little boy ever! Ever day he gets cuter and cuter. I want to take his little cheeks and chew on them... not in a creepy way or anything, totally normal right?? He has finally caught on to nursing, which makes the night time feedings so much more enjoyable! Hopefully I will figure out what I'm eating that is making him gassy...

Time... Slow down please!!!!

I can't believe that Mason is almost 2 weeks old!! Holy cow where the heck are the days going?? I swear, my due date took FOR EVER to get here and now that he's here it's going by too quickly! He is growing up right before our eyes and it almost makes me sad seeing him change and grow up so fast. The first little bit was really hard because both Mason and I couldn't seem to get on the same page when it came to nursing (I try to blame it on him, but really it was all me... I had no idea what I was doing!) But we have finally been able to figure it out without pulling each other's hair out (not literally :) believe me I am a good mom and wouldn't pull his or my hair out, my hair just falls out). I have developed an obsession rather quickly. I take lot's and lot's of pictures of my son!

So this obviously isn't a picture of Mason. But the weirdest thing has happened to my poor chin and lip area. For some reason I have all these small red bumps that burn and itch like crazy!! I honestly feel like a modern day leper or an adult with chicken pox! I have no idea what they are. My doctor has given me some cream to rub on it to help calm it down. We think that when I put the cream on after I'm done nursing, I touch my face and my face is having a reaction to the cream. So my main focus when I'm feeding Mason is to not touch my face! Which is really hard! What a horrible habit I have and I didn't realize it! I touch my face a lot!

 Mason has a lot of visitors! He is loved by so many!

 Kyle and I laugh a lot at the poses that Mason does. He always has his legs bent and his arms in a way where it makes him look like a little gangster.

 Can't get enough of this little guy!

When we were at the hospital, the nurses were always telling us that we had a really "smiley" baby and it is so true! Mason smiles all the time! (It's hard not to think that he's smiling just because of gas... Hopefully he's smiling because he likes us or we're doing something right or something) We have had the hardest time getting a picture of it, because as soon as we pull the camera out the smile is gone! But we finally got 2!

 Before Mason was born, we bought this thing called a "woombie." It's suppose to be the best swaddler ever and make the baby feel like he's in the womb. Well we tried it, and after about an hour we took it off. I felt like the zipper was too close to his throat and it looked really tight.

So instead of swaddling him in the woombie, we are going to stick to the blankets. He likes having his arms out anyway.